Essay On 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment, created out of the ashes of the American Civil War, declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It was an end to the harsh cruelty that was brought upon African Americans for generations; however, a loophole exists within a simple phrase: “except as a punishment for crime…”. Even though all Americans are considered free under the 13th Amendment on paper, in reality this cannot be further from the truth as people were still considered a slave to the state if they committed a crime. Over time though, this “hands-off” doctrine approach gradually started to shift throughout the 1960s and 70s because the Civil Rights Movement stretched far beyond just African Americans. For prisoners, it was a justifiable call to action for basic human rights.

In 1865 Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson became president, the black codes were passed by Southern state governments, and the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. Those four events paint a picture of just how much tension there was in the United States at that time. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery and outlaw involuntary servitude in the entire nation. Involuntary servitude was only to be allowed as a punishment for a crime. The crime had to be one in which a person had been properly sentenced, and Congress had the authority to see to it that the law was being followed. Southerners rejected the new amendment and pushed the boundaries of the law as much as they could. They searched for loop holes in order to limit the amount of autonomy freemen experienced. The black codes that were put into place seemed to almost negate the Thirteenth Amendment. This further increased the tension in the South.

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. African Americas are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. “Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups." (Carson, E. Ann, and Sabol, William J. 2011.) Stated on Americanprogram.org “ The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison.” Hispanics and African Americans make up 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population. (Henderson 2000). Slightly 15% of the inmate population is made up of 283,000 Hispanic prisoners.

A good thesis from this article would be, “A trio of amendments to the U.S. Constitution was meant to help integrate blacks into society. The 13th Amendment, which became law in 1865, abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment (1868) gave all Americans equal protection under the law. The 15th Amendment (1870) proclaimed that voting rights should not be infringed by race, color, or previous servitude.” This was quoted from the article and it shows that these amendments were set out to make all blacks the rights and freedom that everyone else had. The thesis is supported by giving proof that not only the 13th Amendment allowed blacks to obtain the same rights as everyone else had. It introduces the Jim Crow Laws which band colored people from being able to go to certain restaurants, movie theaters, etc. Eventually they were banished

The 13th Amendment says “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” (Doc C) Although many years later African Americans still were not being treated like people, abolishing slavery was a big step to the stop of harsh treatment toward African Americans. The citizenship, and the right to vote are granted to African Americans by the 14, and 15 Amendments. The passing of these Amendments insured that the African Americans are people.

1. The ratification of the 13th amendment to the U.S. constitution marked a historical achievement for the freedom of African slaves in America. Even with this amendment freed slaves, especially in the south, endured many hardships. Many freed slaves in the south still dealt with horrific conditions that existed during the Civil War. Also, slavery by another name was introduced by the state level with legal and prison systems leasing black convicts to corporations for work. Lastly, Africans received much backlash from their white counterparts with many different acts of violence occurring because of this new amendment. The passing of the 13th amendment can be seen as just paperwork, and the true nature of this country can still be seen

AGREE: African Americans were targeted still after the 13th amendment since they were people of color. White people were scared of them because they saw them as animals and monster, white women would say that they would rape them, even though they never even touch the then or even make contact. The KKK was a terrorist organization in the U.S they wanted to eliminate the community of color because they saw Africans American as a disgrace. Even though, slavery was abolished in 1865 in December doesn’t mean

Slavery is alive in the United States of America; it’s just morphed to fit itself into modern times. Every time I see the text of the 13th Amendment, I wonder if that little caveat was intentional or just really naïve.

In the 1860s, the north and the south fought against each other over the long-standing controversy over slavery. At the end of the Civil War, the 13th amendment abolish slavery and slaves were free from their masters. The ex-slaves were free, but it would take some time for them to gain equal rights. Former slaves faced obstacles for equal rights like voting and segregation for nearly a century. Although the 14th and 15th amendments helped blacks with equal rights, there was no one to blaze a trail for blacks until Martin Luther King Jr. came along. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist and became a figurehead during the Civil Rights Movement for his peaceful protests. Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully stood against racial

Breydon Tune American government Mr.Kelley Compare and contrast the 13th,14th,15th amendments The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments believe it or not have a lot in common. The 13th amendment was was made for the abolishment of slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime. The 14th amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil war. The 15th amendment prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on the citizen’s “race,color,or previous condition of servitude.

African Americans are targeted by law enforcement more often than any other race (Toth, Crews & Burton, 2008). Because of this the term racial profiling was created to explain the process of targeting people for criminal activity because of race not evidence (Toth et al, 2008). African Americans are over represented in the criminal justice system based on their population amount compared to whites (Toth et al, 2008). African American males are incarcerated at a rate 9 times that of white males in most states, in others that number may be as high as 12 to 26 times more (Toth et al, 2008). Nationwide statistics show in most states 1 in 20 over the age of 18 are in prison, while 5 other states report 1 in 13 or 14 compared to the 1 in 180

The 13th Amendment came months after the Civil War ended in attempts to end slavery. Many years later many question if the 13th Amendment is just a loophole for the government to legally continue slavery? The incarceration rates disproportionately impact man of color with one in every 15 African American men and one in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated with only 1 n 106 white men incarcerated means that one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Prisons have grown from

This historical and legal analysis will define the important aspects of Constitutional of the Tenth Amendment that defined the rights of Southern states to secede from the Union. The individual rights of states defined the “perpetual” union of the states, but president Lincoln violated these constitutional rights by imposing federal authority to prevent southern state autonomy. Before the Civil War, the interpretation of perpetual union under the Constitution was determined through Madison’s own understanding of a weak federal government that could not coerce of threaten the rights of individual states. More so, the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution specifically provides a sovereignty of states rights, which allow states to form conventions

America, the land of the free, holds 25% of the world’s prisoners yet only has 4% of Earth’s population. Once the 13th Amendment was passed the incarceration of African Americans increased substantially. The prison population of the United States rose from about 300,000 in 1972 and now it is at 2.3 million and rising. Although slavery was abolished with the 13th amendment, discrimination took a new form as institutionalized racism began to rise in law enforcement and political advances in America.

This documentary was infuriating and almost painful to watch. When I first started watching I thought it was going to be a snooze fest however, it really intrigued me.